


Expecting Trouble

by notaverse



Series: Silver Cinders [3]
Category: Johnny's Entertainment, KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, Mpreg, uke!Jin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-02
Updated: 2011-10-02
Packaged: 2017-10-24 06:10:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaverse/pseuds/notaverse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to <a href="http://notaverse.livejournal.com/14862.html">Silver Cinders on the Road to Matrimony</a>. It's time Prince Kame did his duty and fathered an heir. With his parents setting a precedent, having a child with his male spouse isn't out of the question - but persuading Jin to sign himself up for the whole nine months is easier said than done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expecting Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Expecting Trouble 1/2  
>  **Fandom:** KAT-TUN  
>  **Pairing:** Kame x Jin  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Warning:** Mpreg  
>  **Genre:** Twisted fairy tale, crack  
>  **Disclaimer:** Not mine, damnit.

It wasn't the first time Jin had had family members keeping secrets from him. His own father hadn't even bothered to mention he was seeing anyone until he'd brought home a wealthy widow on Jin's thirteenth birthday and introduced her as Jin's new stepmother. And now, it seemed, Jin's fathers-in-law were getting in on the act, even though they were on a tour of the kingdom and weren't due back at the palace for months.

But Jin knew the signs. He wasn't an idiot. He'd asked the decorators working on the bedroom on the other side of Kame's and they'd given him knowing winks before asking him whether he thought bunnies or chicks would be cuter. Jin had picked bunnies, starting off another round of sly nods, and left when one of the painters asked if he could please keep Junno, his big, black Labrador, from dipping his tail in the paint cans.

His next clue had been the furniture. A large crib had arrived a week later, followed by a baby-change unit, bouncer, pram, playpen and nappy bin - all bunny-print. Kame had found him lurking in the doorway of the new nursery, watching the decorators turn it into a room fit for a king - or a prince, at least.

It was obvious what was going on, but nobody was talking. Jin took to interrogating the kitchen staff, because they knew _everything_ \- mostly because Yamapi and Prince Kame liked to hang out there and steal food, a practice which Jin had been more than happy to adopt since he'd moved into the palace almost two years ago. But no one would tell him anything. There were hints that there might be a new arrival within a year, and speculation that perhaps it would be necessary to create new and unusual menus to cater for changing tastes, but Jin couldn't get anything concrete.

Kame, damn him, wouldn't say anything either. Jin asked him about the nursery, and if King Takki and Queen (it was a non-gendered job title) Tsubasa were really touring the kingdom or if they were holed up at a retreat somewhere, taking it easy in anticipation of a happy event, but Kame merely smiled and said he'd know all about it soon. Jin didn't see why it was such a big secret. There didn't seem to have been a formal announcement yet, though - perhaps they were holding off in case something went wrong. Jin had occasionally asked his fathers-in-law about the unusual circumstances surrounding Kame's birth, and had walked away with the impression that magically-induced male pregnancy was quite a trial for all concerned.

Enlightenment finally came on Jin and Kame's first wedding anniversary. Theirs was a complicated relationship. The circumstances leading up to their first meeting had been extraordinary; those leading to the wedding day no less so. It wasn't a perfect relationship by any means, and their newlywed fights were exacerbated by their difference in rank, but for every night the connecting door between their rooms stayed firmly locked, there were at least a dozen where only one bed was slept in...if any sleeping was taking place at all, which was questionable.

They didn't go out on their anniversary. With his parents away, Kame's royal duties had increased and he'd had a harder time than usual giving palace security the slip. Now he'd come of age, more responsibilities had been placed on his eighteen year-old shoulders and the paperwork awaiting his official signature seemed to grow taller every time he looked away. Unfortunately, the ministers had discovered that Yamapi was proficient at forging Kame's signature, and had insisted on watching the prince as he worked to avoid approval being accidentally passed on such ridiculous proposals as making pole-dancing a compulsory subject in schools, and instituting a cake a day as a basic human right.

"Sorry about the setting," Kame said as he and Jin sat down to dinner in their private dining room. "I was hoping we could go to the sea to celebrate, but with my parents away..."

Jin eyed the wine glasses with glee. "Doesn't matter; we can go another time. I'm sure we can keep ourselves entertained."

Kame grinned as their server for the evening poured them both drinks. "It'll still be a special night."

The drink in question turned out to be orange juice, as Jin was surprised to discover when he took a sip from his glass. Kame's obviously wasn't, based on the colour and the way his eyes sparkled when he tasted it. It wasn't worth calling the servant back, though. Jin would simply ask for wine when the food arrived.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about," Kame said. "You can finally stop lurking round the nursery and ambushing everyone who walks past for answers."

"I can't help it if people like to stop and talk to me." Jin offered Kame his most winning smile. "It's not like I couldn't guess; I just wanted confirmation."

Kame seemed startled; he gave Jin a wary look and held his breath for a moment before releasing it as a sigh, visibly relaxing. "So you know. I thought this would be more...awkward."

"Why should it be? I think it's great news!"

"Really? Because I thought you might get angry about it."

Jin couldn't help laughing. Kame looked like he was expecting a temper tantrum. "I'd hardly get angry about this, would I?" He took Kame's hands between his own, looking him straight in the eyes. "Congratulations on your new little brother or sister."

"Huh?"

Jin's smile faltered, but only for a second. Could it be that Kame didn't know? "That's what the nursery's for, right? Your parents have gone away to have another kid, and when they come back we're going to have a cute little boy or girl to play with. Right? Right?"

"Jin, I-"

"Dinner is served!" came the announcement from the doorway, and whatever Kame was about to say had to wait for half-a-dozen platters to be placed on the table between them.

"Can I get some wine?" Jin remembered to ask.

The servant gave Kame a panicked look. Kame shrugged and nodded. "Bring a couple of bottles. I think we're going to need them."

"But you gave orders that-"

"I know," Kame interrupted, "but I don't think the alcohol's going to make any difference. It doesn't have to happen tonight, after all."

Jin's appetite was rapidly disappearing. Not knowing what was going on made him wary, especially since even the servants seemed to have a better idea than he did.

When they were alone again and Jin had downed half a glass without tasting it, Kame tried to explain himself. "No one's pregnant," he said gently. "Not yet. My parents really are touring the kingdom. They've been planning this for years, intending to go when I came of age. They're not at some retreat, I promise. You can call them yourself - actually, you might want to talk to them later. They might have some advice for you."

"On what!" Jin demanded. "What's all this about, Kame? There's obviously a baby involved, and I want to know whose it is!"

"Ours."

Jin's fork clattered to his plate, forgotten. "Ours?" he repeated. "But we don't..."

"Not yet, but we can." Kame pushed his plate aside, seemingly also having lost his appetite. "Jin, I know we took all references to providing an heir out of the wedding, but the reality is that someone has to take over the kingdom when I'm gone and adopting isn't an option."

"So father a child!" Jin spat out. "I know girls don't do much for you but I'm sure you could manage to get yourself an heir on some suitably noble young lady!"

"By cheating on you?" Kame shook his head. "Never."

Jin felt slightly cheered by that until he realised the implications. If Kame, as the Crown Prince and an only child, were to father a legitimate heir, that meant Jin would have to...

"Yes," Kame said wearily. "It would have to be with you. Any child I have with the person I am legally married to - you - would have a legitimate claim to the throne, and that's what I - we - have a duty to provide."

Jin's mouth went dry. He knew it was possible for two men to have a child, with the help of sorcery - Kame was living proof of that - but the idea of participating in it himself...that simply defied imagination. He finished the remaining wine in his glass and poured himself another. Kame followed his example. Good. Perhaps they could both keep drinking till they passed out and by the time they woke up, the conversation would be nothing more than a seriously weird dream.

"With sorcery?" Jin whispered. "A sorcerer could make us pregnant?"

"Make _you_ pregnant," Kame corrected him. "As the prince, it's expected that I...uh...impregnate the princess..."

"Princess" was Jin's official (non-gendered) job title. He didn't care for it much but figured if Queen Tsubasa had put up with it for years, he could do the same. His stepbrothers occasionally ribbed him about it but mostly no one cared, the queen having set a precedent.

"Tell you what," Kame said brightly. "If we have a second one, I'll carry it. How about that?"

Jin tried to envision Kame's skinny frame with the added pounds of pregnancy but his imagination wasn't up to the task. "What makes you think we're having a first one?" he said. "You've already got the nursery, and the servants are all excited, and you didn't want me to drink alcohol and-" He stopped short, leaping to his feet. "You've already done it, haven't you? What, did you have some sorcerer come in and wave a magic wand when I was asleep and I'm the only person who didn't know? How dare you-"

"Jin!" Kame almost knocked the table over, he was in such a rush to stand up. He reached for Jin but Jin backed away, putting the chair between himself and Kame. "It doesn't work like that, okay? No one's done anything to you. You're not pregnant, I promise."

Slightly mollified, Jin sat down again. "I'd better not be."

"He's right," a new voice said. "It doesn't work like that."

It took Jin a moment to identify the source, since he'd had a change of hair colour and dress sense since Jin had last seen him. Jin's fairy godmother (it was a non-gendered job title) was now a redhead, sensibly dressed in dark slacks and a long, grey cardigan, as opposed to the black-and-silver Grim Reaper look he'd once sported.

"Ueda!" Jin exclaimed with delight. "Why's my fairy godmother here?"

Ueda shook his head. "I've quit the fairy godmother business," he said. "Too many of my clients couldn't afford to pay me. I signed up at the local Magic & Mystery school instead to become a qualified sorcerer."

"Mystery?" Jin queried.

"All sorcerers are encouraged to develop an air of mystery," Ueda said solemnly, as if reciting from a set of rules. "It means we can charge more - everyone's so afraid of what we _might_ be capable of that they're too terrified not to pay our extortionate fees."

Jin looked dubiously at Ueda's less than intimidating attire. "You're not really dressed for mystery," he said.

Ueda shrugged. "You both already know me. Besides, the king and queen are paying my fees for this. They're desperate for a grandchild." He pulled an extra chair from the corner and joined them at the table, helping himself to a forkful of Jin's abandoned lasagne. "I've been assigned to you until the child is six months old, so you'll be seeing a lot of me from now on. Just think of me as your own personal midwife."

Somehow, that was even more disturbing to Jin than Ueda's usual aspect. "There's no child," he said dully. "I'm not pregnant."

"But you will be if you drink _this_!" Ueda brandished a small bottle he'd plucked from a point somewhere above Kame's head. "This will give you a perfectly fertile womb, and assuming your other half is up to the task, he'll give you something to put in it. Egg meets sperm, you know how the story goes." He ignored Kame's indignant glare and continued, "After nine months, I make you sleep for a little while and remove the child. Then you wake up, a lot lighter, and the two of you get to be proud parents of a tiny royal troublemaker."

"Make me sleep?" Jin said.

"You can hardly give birth the way a woman can," Ueda pointed out. "I'm not giving you a potion to alter your anatomy _that_ much. It's easier for you if you're not conscious while I remove the child, trust me, unless you have a desire to watch your belly become mist."

Kame laid a comforting arm round Jin's shoulders. "It's not that bad. Things have changed since my parents had me - you don't even have to get sliced open to give birth, so no scarring, and there's none of that business with the needles and tests and stuff first."

"Most unprofessional," Ueda said. "I can do a much better job than that charlatan did with your parents almost twenty years ago, I guarantee. I'm expensive, but worth every penny."

"See?" Kame pleaded. "Ueda will be here to help us, and you'll have everyone's support. Me, my parents, your stepbrothers, Yamapi, Junno..." Even the dog got a mention, but Jin's stepmother didn't and Jin wasn't about to argue. Her behaviour towards Jin had improved markedly since the whole family had moved into the palace, but she still hadn't quite forgiven him for marrying the prince when her own two sons, Koki and Nakamaru, had been passed over in favour of the boy she'd once had as little better than her household slave.

"Your parents aren't even here," Jin complained. "It's this big conspiracy! Everyone seems to know about it but me. Do you have any idea how stupid I feel now, thinking about all the questions I asked?"

"We were just making preparations," Kame said. "Being optimistic. I was hoping by the time I got around to mentioning it, you'd be all worked up over the bunnies and baby toys."

Jin had to admit, the bunnies were pretty cute. But that didn't mean he was going to give in so easily. It had taken him long enough to adjust to the idea of matrimony, of tying himself to a whole new family who could so easily discard him, leaving him with nothing but a broken heart and an acrobatic Labrador. He'd realised, five minutes before making his wedding vows, that he was pledging himself only to Kame and not his family, and that he didn't need to leave himself an escape route in case it all went horribly wrong...but having a child would be yet another tie, and Jin didn't think he could walk away from a baby.

"Nothing happens without your consent," Kame said. "I promise. But think about it. Nine months, and then we'd have a baby! Can you imagine, dressing it up, and teaching it how to play baseball-"

"Soccer," Jin argued.

"Baseball _and_ soccer," Kame argued back. "Teaching it all about nail polish and jewellery-"

"And if it's a girl?" Jin asked, finally cracking a smile. When Kame got worked up about something there was no stopping him.

"Yamapi," Kame said. "He's got a little sister."

Ueda raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sure he'd be my first choice for child-rearing advice, but it's your baby."

"Please?" Kame begged.

Jin thought it was criminally unfair for Kame to use his own puppy-dog eyes against him. It made it hard to think rationally, but he had a go anyway. "Kame, I'm a guy. What do I know about being pregnant? And don't tell me to ask your parents, because they're not here!"

"Jin, if it was that much of a challenge, the human race would've died out years ago because no one would be willing to put themselves through it. If millions of women - and one man - can do this, I'm sure you can." Kame's lips curved into a smirk. "Or don't you think you can handle it?"

"Oh, I can handle it," Jin sneered back. "At least I've got the build. You'd probably collapse after a week."

"Wait till we have our second child and I'll prove you wrong."

"I haven't even agreed to a first one yet!"

"Should I come back later?" Ueda said. "Because I haven't had dinner yet and catfights always make me hungry."

"Here." Jin pushed his plate towards Ueda, who wasted no time in tucking in. "I've lost my appetite."

Kame's face fell. "So you won't do it?"

"I..."

"Don't think about it too long," Ueda advised between bites. "Another couple of years and the risk increases."

"You mean you'll be better qualified and able to charge more," Kame said.

"Precisely."

Jin didn't want to think about it. What would it feel like, having another life forming inside him? Would he be able to feel it move? Would he lie awake at night, wondering if his baby was comfortable? Would he even sleep, or would he be too worried about hurting the child by accident?

It wasn't that he didn't want children. He'd never ruled it out as an option, even after he acquired the stepmother from hell and lost all hope of ever meeting anyone who might be interested in co-parenting with him, and the thought of having a baby with Kame, a tiny new life made up of bits of both of them, was a pleasant one. They'd have no shortage of help, at least, and the baby would be guaranteed the finest education money could buy. There were worse starts to be had in life.

Should he do it? Could he let his body serve as an incubator for nine months? Would it not be better if he considered the situation further when completely sober?

"At least think about it," Kame said. "No pressure."

"You've already had the nursery painted."

"All right, so there's _some_ pressure..."

Ueda set the bottle down on the table. "It's your choice, Jin. No one can make you drink this."

It couldn't hurt to ask a few cautious questions, could it? "If I...if I drink it, what happens?" Jin said.

"Your body will undergo a few changes," Ueda explained. "Unless you've already got a womb I don't know about, anyway."

He pulled out a pen and paper from the folds of his cardigan and drew what he said was a picture of Jin but what looked more like a cartoon mouse. Both Kame and Jin were slightly green around the gills by the time Ueda had finished with his somewhat graphic lesson on magical anatomy changes and description of exactly how it was possible for a man to become pregnant. A servant came in with dessert and Kame waved him away without even looking.

"How long would the changes last?" Jin asked.

"Depends. Just because you'll be fertile, doesn't mean you'll get pregnant. You can keep trying, of course. If it doesn't take, your body will reshape itself after about a week and you'll have to take another dose. If it does...you'll get your own body back a couple of days after the baby is born, making you the envy of anyone doing this without the benefit of magic." Ueda gave them a broad smile and pulled a pink bangle from his pocket. "Now, since you're not exactly in a position to notice a missed period, wear this when you're trying for a baby. It'll turn blue if you get lucky."

"Does that indicate the gender?" Kame asked, curious.

Ueda's smile grew wider. "Your baby won't even have a gender at that point. I'll be able to tell you when it does. What are you hoping for?"

Kame gulped. "That Jin will say yes."

That was it; Jin couldn't say no now, could he? Not when Kame was looking at him like he was holding a rope down into a pit and Kame was trapped at the bottom, waiting for Jin to rescue him.

"Fine," Jin huffed, "but you're waiting on me hand and foot till the baby is born."

"I'm a prince," Kame said with a smirk. "I've got servants for that."

Ueda correctly surmised that Kame was eager to start trying immediately, left both bottle and bangle on the table, and strategically vanished into thin air.

\-----

Kame had resigned himself to things never going to plan with Jin. It didn't matter what they were doing - somehow, with Jin involved, everything became three times as complicated. Even when they both wanted the same thing, and Kame wasn't entirely sure they did. Not this time.

"Maybe Ueda's potion doesn't work?" Kame suggested after the bangle stubbornly remained pink for a third night in a row.

Jin shifted against the pillows, still breathing hard. "Or maybe you're not up to the task? Something definitely happened when I drank that stuff, Kame, so don't try to tell me it didn't work!"

With the resulting uproar, Kame could see why his parents had decided to spend the next year touring the kingdom. They were clearly much craftier than he'd assumed.

"I'm not suggesting you're not physically capable of becoming pregnant," Kame said. "Just...are you sure you really want this?"

Kame had been lucky enough to be able to marry for love, not politics - just as well, since marrying Jin didn't do anything for him politically except make him more appealing to Labrador-owners, and as the monarchy wasn't elected this made absolutely no difference. But he knew where his duty lay. He was obliged to father a child to inherit the throne, and his parents preferred it be as soon as possible so they could enjoy playing with it while they were still relatively young.

To that end, Kame had been enthusiastic in his attempts; Jin, once the night of nausea induced by the potion had worn off, had been no less dedicated, happily experimenting with different positions in an effort to turn the bangle blue. But with half their time already elapsed, there was still no response, and Kame was starting to wonder if it was a case of mind over matter.

"I said I'd do it, didn't I?" Jin said. "Do you hear me complaining?"

"Mostly I hear you moaning...but not like that!" Kame ducked as Jin brandished a pillow at him, threatening to wipe the cheeky grin off his face with a fistful of feathers. "But if you don't want this..."

"Better this than letting you go to someone else," Jin said matter-of-factly. "Yeah, I'm nervous. I keep thinking I must be crazy to put my body through something like this, especially when Ueda won't tell me what the symptoms are likely to be, just hints that I might want to move my bed into the bathroom.

"But I'll do it."

"You didn't want to marry me until half-way through the wedding - maybe you'll want a baby once you're a few minutes from giving birth," Kame mused.

"Which you will be present for so that if Ueda screws up while I'm asleep, you can claim a refund and threaten to take his Gackt albums away if he doesn't fix me."

"I'd want to be there anyway." Kame slid down to plant a kiss on Jin's bare stomach; still flat but not, he hoped, for much longer. "My baby too."

"Just so long as he or she gets my eyebrows," Jin said smugly. "I've seen your childhood pictures, Kame!"

"This getting pregnant thing is a lot harder than I thought it would be," Jin mumbled, back arching under Kame's hands, his own hands tangling in Kame's hair.

Kame wasn't sure how much more he could take. Jin took his own time, not letting Kame move, setting a pace so slow and languid that Kame was starting to worry about whether or not he'd remembered to lock the door.

He obviously hadn't, because when they'd finished, sprawling lazily on a heap of towels, Ueda stuck his head round the door. Kame had just enough presence of mind to drag one of the towels over them, though it was unfortunate that the first one his fingers found happened to be a hand towel and therefore on the small side.

Ueda's eyes went straight to Jin's wrist, however, where the bangle shone bright blue. "Congratulations!" he said. "It's triplets!"

It took five minutes for Kame to pry Jin's fingers from Ueda's throat, by which point Ueda was forced to admit that he was only kidding. Not about the positive result, but about the quantity. "But aren't you relieved now when I tell you there's only one baby on the way?" he asked, trying to rub away the finger marks.

Jin tugged on a bathrobe. "Don't scare me like that! I thought I was going to end up the size of the entire palace!"

"No, only one wing of it," Ueda said cheerfully. "I have to go spread the good news. You enjoy the hot tub while you can - it's not a good idea to use them when you're expecting."

This time, Kame _did_ lock the door. "Uh...Jin?"

Jin had a hand on his tummy, looking deep in thought. Kame hoped they were good thoughts but there was no way to tell. He held his breath until a slow, confused sort of smile spread across Jin's face.

"This is so weird," Jin said softly, but he didn't seem upset - more awed than anything else. "We're creating life, Kame. A little piece of you and a little piece of me."

"Our baby's going to have one hell of a family tree," Kame said.

\-----

Jin wasn't filled with optimism. He was looking forward to the food cravings, since they would give him a legitimate excuse to raid the pantry at all hours for all manner of things, but he'd heard terrible stories about sickness, and not just in the morning. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable weight gain either, but consoled himself with the fact that he was in pretty good shape to start with. People had been telling him for the last few days that he had a "glow", though his stepbrothers maintained it was just the palace lighting.

"How did Queen Tsubasa manage?" he asked. He still hadn't been able to reach Kame's parents on the phone, though he'd left dozens of messages.

"I checked the records," Ueda said. "The nausea went on for most of his pregnancy, the whole time he wasn't being sick he was on the yoga mat, and the labour was a lot longer than yours is going to be. Oh, and he kept having nosebleeds, but I'm sure that was the king's fault."

Kame grimaced, which was his usual expression when confronted with evidence of his parents' love lives. "We don't need to hear the gory details."

Maybe Kame didn't, but Jin wanted all the information he could get. He only had Ueda's word for it that he was even pregnant - the only change to his life so far was that the palace guards stopped letting him steal their cigarettes and no one would let him touch so much as a drop of alcohol. He didn't feel any different yet.

Not physically, anyway. Mentally, he was caught between disbelief, wonder, and anxiety. Long walks with Junno seemed to help with the last of these, as the dog's propensity for backflips never failed to amuse him, but even that didn't stop him lying awake at night, snuggled up next to Kame, wondering what the next nine months were going to be like.

\-----

Of course, life didn't stop just because they were going to have a baby. They still had to make the expected appearances at court - more than usual, with Kame's parents away - and entertain at dinner parties; Kame still had an office full of paperwork to review and sign.

"If I distract the ministers, you could slide under the desk and escape through the secret passage?" Yamapi suggested one evening when Kame was frantically trying to clear his in-tray before meeting Jin to attend Lord Jun's going-away party.

Kame cast a discreet glance under the desk. He didn't see any sign of an exit. "What secret passage?" he whispered back.

Yamapi grinned. "Your dad showed me once. Just press the rose in the corner and the carpet panel lifts up."

Exactly what Yamapi had been doing under King Takki's desk, Kame didn't want to think about. Though Yamapi was a good friend, his obsession with Kame's parents bordered on the creepy, as far as Kame was concerned. Sure, they still looked like a couple in their late twenties, but they were Kame's _parents_.

"Maybe another time," Kame said. "If you want to help, read this and give me a summary." He handed Yamapi a sixty-page document covered in minuscule print.

Yamapi skimmed it for all of three minutes, then returned with an answer. "Property dispute between Count Tadayoshi and Viscount Tegoshi."

Kame knew the answer to this one. "Offer to slice the disputed property in half and whichever one says they'd rather let the other have it, gets it." He scribbled his signature at the end, giving the ministers a triumphant peace sign when he realised it was the last document. "What was the property, anyway?"

"Baron Nishikido."

"Oh."

When Kame finally escaped, he raced back to the residential wing to find out what Jin was wearing to the party so they didn't accidentally end up in the same outfit again, only to discover Jin under the covers, reading manga and obviously not ready to go out.

"It's not like you to forget about a party," Kame teased, perching on the edge of Jin's bed.

Jin marked his place with a skull-print bookmark and set the comic down. "I didn't forget - I'm just not going."

"Have the symptoms kicked in?" Kame felt a spark of excitement. He didn't want Jin to feel ill, of course, but he was eager to have more than Ueda's word for it that they were going to be parents.

"No, but I'm still not going." Jin patted his stomach.

"You've only been pregnant four days! Isn't it a bit early to start using it as an excuse to get out of things?"

"Anything that gets me out of an evening with Lord Jun is fine by me."

Kame recalled the vicious spat Jin and Jun had had not only at the wedding reception, but at several other formal events over the past year - verbal sparring matches usually escalating into violence, during which Jin had to be held back in case he accidentally damaged Jun's face, an offense for which he was likely to find himself the target of an assassin.

"If he says anything, I can have his favourite boutique shut down?" he offered.

"He's leaving the kingdom for three months anyway - I don't think he'll notice. Besides," Jin pushed the covers away so Kame could see he was fully dressed, "you've spent your entire day stuck with your father's ministers. Do you really want to follow it up with an evening playing politics?"

"Well..."

Jin didn't give him a chance to make up his mind, tackling him round the waist and flipping him down onto the mattress. By the time Kame managed to leave the bed, _sans_ clothing, the party had been over for three hours and Yamapi had been forced to explain their absence by dropping oblique hints about the exhaustion brought on by pregnancy.

Consequently, by midday, half the kingdom thought Kame was expecting too.

\-----

Jin was under orders to stay away from the palace gym, but Ueda suggested he start spending time in the Royal Swimming Pool instead.

"Exercise is important," his former fairy godmother told him. "You'll feel a lot better later on in your pregnancy if you get into good habits now, and swimming will help. Walking, too."

Junno let out an excited bark in anticipation of more walks. Jin stroked his ears. "But the water's so cold," he complained. "Can't you magic up an indoor pool?"

"Just think of it as character building," Ueda said.

Character building. Hah. Jin was pretty sure Ueda was just trying to make him suffer. Sadism was obviously a mandatory trait for sorcerers.

Nevertheless, Jin gritted his teeth and swam his laps, up until his sixth week of what had been, so far, an easy pregnancy. Nausea kicked in like someone had grabbed hold of his guts and started twisting. Ueda's suggestion about moving the bed into the bathroom made perfect sense now. Never mind getting anywhere near the pool - Jin had trouble dragging himself out of bed, and even when he managed that, it was only to throw up.

It didn't seem worth the effort for Jin to force food down when he knew it would be making a reappearance before long. Kame tried to persuade him to eat, having the kitchen staff whip up all sorts of tempting treats, but even their best efforts were for naught as Jin sent the dishes back untouched.

After a fortnight of Jin's calorie intake being woefully inadequate for his needs, let alone the baby's, Kame put his foot down - albeit from a distance, because Junno was standing guard over his master and not letting anyone closer than the doorway.

"You might as well ask Ueda for a magical abortion," he said. "At the rate you're going, the baby's never going to make it."

Jin flinched. It wasn't as if he _wanted_ not to eat, but the mere thought of food turned his stomach. A few mouthfuls were enough to set his insides roiling. "I'll be all right," he muttered, hugging a cushion to his chest.

Kame couldn't hear him at all. He had to negotiate his way past Junno to reach the couch, which was Jin's rest stop between the bed and the bathroom and consequently saw a great deal of use. Jin didn't even look up when he sat down.

"Jin, I know you don't feel like eating but-"

"You wouldn't feel excited about food either if you knew you were going to see it again all over the carpet."

"Can't Ueda do anything?" Kame said desperately.

"He told me to drink lots of fluids and take supplements."

The empty sports drinks bottles cluttering the table proved Jin had at least been following part of Ueda's advice. Somewhere in the kingdom, a deprived athlete was cursing the royal family.

"It'll pass, right?" Kame brushed his fingers against Jin's, taking his hand when no resistance was forthcoming. "It can't last forever."

"No more than another seven months," Jin joked, but he didn't have the energy to put any humour into it. It wasn't fair. He wasn't even showing yet and he was already worn out.

Kame's despair drove him to take desperate measures. "How about if I cooked for you?" he offered. "Would you try that?"

The prince... _cooking?_ The very idea was enough to bring a smile to Jin's face. The closest he'd ever seen Kame get to cooking was making a cup of coffee. If nothing else, it would be a diversion.

"As long as I get to watch," he said.

Although the kitchen staff grumbled when Kame kicked them out for the morning, they did so goodnaturedly, knowing he must have his reasons. Much to Jin's surprise, Kame turned out to be a brisk and efficient cook, throwing together meals that, while uncomplicated, tasted better than anything else Jin had tried to force down his throat in the past two weeks. He didn't know if it was simply the way Kame had used the ingredients that made him finish every last bite, or if it was because it was made by _Kame_.

There were a few nervous minutes where they waited to see if Kame had been wasting his time, but Jin's stomach felt more settled than it had in ages. When he shook his head and smiled, there was a round of applause from the window, where the kitchen staff were hovering to see the results.

"It's really okay?" Kame asked.

Kame wore an apron that said "Kiss the Cook", so Jin did. Another round of applause followed.

\-----

Pregnancy didn't affect Kame's life anywhere near as much as it did Jin's, but that didn't mean he didn't suffer some disruption. For one thing, he now had to spend a couple of hours everyday in the kitchen, since for the next two months, Jin was unable to keep anything down but Kame's cooking. Kame found it sort of flattering, but drove the staff half-crazy with his constant demands for new ingredients to experiment with. The prince was not a man who did things by halves.

With the nausea finally in recession, Jin gradually regained his energy. Kame was glad to see him up and around again...that is, until he found Jin standing in front of his bedroom mirror, frowning at the zip on his motorcycle jacket.

"I knew this was going to happen," Jin complained. "Now I'm the size of an elephant and it's only going to get worse."

"You've gained less than four kilos," Kame said. "Elephant status is a long way off. It's a tight jacket, Jin. Some days even I can't get it to zip up."

Jin turned round to give him an accusing look. "You've been borrowing my jacket?"

"You always borrow my stuff," Kame pointed out. "And you don't give it back, either. I have to come find it in your wardrobe."

"Married couples should share freely, right?"

"Right," Kame said dryly. Jin's stance on possessions seemed to be that what was his was his, and what was Kame's was his as well. Though if the way Jin was struggling to squeeze into the motorcycle jacket was any indication, he wouldn't be able to borrow Kame's clothes for much longer.

 _  
_Motorcycle jacket..._   
_

"Jin..." Kame laced his voice with suspicion. "Why are you wearing that?"

"I feel like going for a ride," Jin said. "Want to join me?"

Kame wasn't sure if Jin was being deliberately rebellious or just dense; he appeared to be totally serious. "You're not getting on a bike in your condition."

"So I'll wear a different jacket!" Jin gave up on the zip, tossed the jacket aside and started rummaging through his wardrobe for a suitable replacement.

"I'm not talking about that! It's too risky. What if you fall?"

"Have I ever fallen before?"

"Have you ever ridden while pregnant before?" Kame countered.

Thanks to his stepmother's strict discipline, Jin had never been allowed anywhere near anything with an engine. He'd wasted no time, however, in learning to drive both bikes and cars once he'd moved into the palace, though the security guards had protested because this made it harder to keep track of him. Jin had successfully argued that Kame was allowed, therefore he should be.

Of course, pregnancy was an added twist. "You know I haven't," Jin sulked. "What do you want me to do, confine myself to the palace for the next five months?"

Under those circumstances, it was impossible to predict which would blow first - the roof of the palace or Jin. Kame had no wish to restrict him, only to protect him and the unborn child. Jin didn't respond well to being tied down.

"No...but you could drive a car instead," Kame said. "Very carefully. With company. And take your cell phone with you."

Jin snorted. "Stop treating me like I'm made of glass." He threw on a long, leather coat, jammed a fedora on his head, and swept out the door before Kame could protest.

\-----

In the end, Jin did go for a drive. He even took company, in the form of Yamapi and Junno, and Ueda invited himself along "in case of an accident". Yamapi called shotgun, but somehow found himself in the backseat with the dog - Ueda's magic at work.

"Are we driving anywhere in particular, or just until you've got whatever it is out of your system?" Ueda asked as they pulled out of the palace garage.

Jin didn't answer until they were safely through the gates and on the open road, driving towards the nearest town. "We're driving till I want to go home."

In the back, Junno whined; Yamapi patted his nose and said, "Can we stop somewhere for lunch?"

"Only if you're paying."

Jin's mood lightened considerably as they drove. It was hard to stay annoyed when Ueda kept enchanting the radio so all the songs sounded like they were being sung by chipmunks. Yamapi's attempts to join in made them all laugh; Junno's tail wagged in merry accompaniment.

They stopped for sandwiches at a small coffee shop, sitting outside to take advantage of the sunshine, and because Junno wasn't allowed indoors - even escorted by the princess himself. Ravenous, Jin made quick work of his meal, then regretted it when he felt a fluttering in his belly.

Yamapi leapt to his feet, all prepared to clear a path to the bathroom. "Going to be sick again?"

Jin rubbed a hand over his stomach, waiting for the queasiness to make the transition to his throat, but it never happened. "I...I don't think so."

"Probably the baby moving," Ueda said. "Nothing to worry about."

Not for Ueda, perhaps, but Jin couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. Not physically - it didn't hurt - but because this was the first time he'd been able to feel another life inside, a little boy or girl growing bigger by the day. It was unsettling.

"Can I touch it?" Yamapi asked.

Despite the public location, Jin didn't mind, since Yamapi was so clearly excited by the idea. He raised his shirt, then squirmed when a cold hand pressed against his skin. Ueda looked on, quietly waving away the gawkers who gathered round. (Where they went, no one knew.)

Unfortunately for Yamapi, the baby's movements weren't strong enough for him to feel yet. Disappointed, he ordered dessert to cheer himself up, and everyone pretended not to notice Jin stealing chocolate flakes from the other side of the wafer. Although Kame no longer had to cook for him, the kitchen staff were under orders to give him as balanced a diet as possible, and that included precious little in the way of dessert.

"Try again in a few weeks," Ueda said. "I doubt anyone but Jin will be able to feel the baby doing somersaults at the moment."

Junno caught the word "somersaults" and promptly performed one. Jin stole Yamapi's wafer, broke it in two, and fed half to the dog. The other half, Yamapi snatched back. It was the piece with all the chocolate sauce on, after all.

Ueda ruffled Junno's ears. "One day you're going to have to tell me where you got your dog."

"He's talented, isn't he?" Jin shot his pet a grin. "Dad found him hiding out in the garden one day. It seems he got left behind when the circus moved on, so we adopted him."

Talking about his father always made Jin slightly nostalgic. The old man had died a shade over three years ago, and Jin still missed him. What he would've thought of his son's current situation, Jin could only guess, but since his father had always regretted having only one child of his own, Jin thought he might approve of having a grandchild, no matter how unorthodox the circumstances.

They finished eating in peace. The owner refused to charge them, provided Jin autographed his wall, so by the time they turned back to the palace, all three men were in good spirits. (Junno, of course, was always in good spirits, whether the occasion called for it or not.)

Ueda seemed particularly gleeful, his smile lighting the way home. They had to keep stopping for Jin to go to the bathroom - drinking lots of fluids had its downside - but they made good time regardless. Yamapi still wasn't allowed to ride up front, though he did at one point try to swipe the keys and take over driving duties; Jin's response was to bat him over the head with his own hat and declare that the only way he was letting anyone else have control of his car was if he was actually in labour, which was, as Ueda pointed out, an impossibility.

Jin pulled into the palace garage, parking perfectly despite the stack of crates that had somehow materialised around his parking space in the time he'd been out. Ueda reached for the door handle but Jin stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Something wrong?"

"You know something, don't you?" Jin said. Ueda's blinding smile had been bothering him on the drive, hinting at secrets Jin couldn't even begin to guess. "About me?"

"Not about _you_ , exactly." Ueda sat back in his seat. "I should be able to do this now. Anybody want to know what gender the baby is?"

"I'm not sure-" Jin began, but Yamapi interrupted.

"I do! It'll help me choose presents."

Jin smirked at him. "You'll buy pink things whether it's a boy or a girl, won't you?"

"Well...yeah, okay..."

"It's your decision," Ueda said to Jin.

Jin sighed. "Kame will want to know, because it'll drive him crazy if he finds out he _could_ know but doesn't get told. How can you tell?"

"Lift up your shirt."

Before Jin could do so, the pressure on his bladder upgraded itself to emergency status, and the entire party decamped to the residential wing for a comfort break. Yamapi mounted a daring rescue, saving Kame from what sounded like world's most boring debate by having a crate of beer sent to the chambers - the participants were too busy making merry to notice when the prince pulled a vanishing act, clutching his own beer and wondering at his sudden good fortune.

"Gimme a sip," Jin demanded when Kame showed up with the can still in hand.

A guilty blush stained Kame's cheeks. "It's finished," he lied, handing the can to Yamapi to dispose of. "All gone. Did you have a good time?"

"He had a marvellous time," Ueda said smoothly. "Do you want to see the video footage I took? It's all x-rated, of course, but that shouldn't bother a married man like yourself." He managed to dodge all three pillows hurled at him but couldn't avoid Junno crashing into his knees.

"Nothing happened other than the baby starting to move," Jin said.

Kame's incredulous smile found its twin on Jin's face. "Is it still moving? Can I feel it?"

Jin shook his head. "Not yet. It's not strong enough yet...but Ueda says he can tell us the gender. You want to know, right?"

"Of course I want to know!"

Ueda picked himself up from the floor, brushing Junno aside. "Then close the blinds and switch off the lights. Jin, lie down on the couch and lift your shirt."

"This is just like a dream I had last night," Yamapi mumbled, then turned red when he realised he'd spoken aloud and everyone else was staring at him.

When Jin was in position and the room was completely dark, everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen. Jin could feel Ueda's hand hovering over his bare skin, not quite touching. He wondered if this was how the birth was going to go.

"Why does it have to be dark?" Kame asked.

"Because it looks more impressive when I do _this_."

Ueda's hand glowed pale blue, ghostly in the darkness. He pressed softly on Jin's belly and Jin felt warmth seeping through spread fingers, a gentle probe through layers of skin, light seeking out the tiny child inside. He knew the moment Ueda made contact; numbness rippled back in response and he hissed sharply. Kame squeezed his hand.

"Your daughter's doing fine," Ueda said. He withdrew his hand; the blinds sprang open by themselves. "

Jin sat up, smoothing his shirt back into place. "It's a girl?"

"We're having a girl." Kame sounded overjoyed. "But...who's going to teach her about _girl things_?"

"Don't look at my stepmother," Jin said. "She'll have forgotten it all by the time our daughter's old enough to need advice on that." He liked saying that - "our daughter". His and Kame's. Their very own baby girl to love.

"Worry about teaching her to talk before you tell her about periods." Ueda pulled out a notebook from his cardigan, scribbled on a few pages, then packed it away again. "Or better yet, give her a name."

"Actually, we already have a-"

"No, Jin, we are _not_ calling her 'Tiara'," Kame said firmly. "We've had this discussion and we're not going to name our daughter after a piece of headgear."

"I think it's cute." Jin was all prepared to defend his choice.

"I think she'll hate us forever when she tries to make friends!"

Ueda caught Yamapi's eye and gestured towards the door. "Do you think Junno could use a walk?"

Yamapi had no wish to be caught in the crossfire. He whistled for the dog and ran for the door, Ueda close behind, while Jin and Kame bickered like the child they were about to have.

\-----

By the time they'd hit seven months, the baby still didn't have a name - a situation which dismayed the populace - and Jin had taken to sleeping alone. Kame was sad about this, though not very much because Jin's sleeping patterns had become increasingly erratic. The steady weight gain made it difficult for him to find a comfortable position in bed, and a combination of frequent bathroom breaks, twinges, and bad dreams had him waking at odd hours. Kame found it easier to say goodnight and retire to his own room, knowing that Jin could always pop through the connecting door and wake him if he felt the need.

He had, at least, been able to feel his little girl kick. Koki had marched into the council session one afternoon, stared down the guards on the door until they'd backed off, and demanded that Kame come with him _now_. Fearful that Jin might be in trouble, Kame had gone immediately, only to discover Jin quite happily settled on a pile of cushions; Nakamaru, Ueda and Yamapi all taking it in turns to touch his stomach.

Confused, Kame had turned to Koki. "You called me out of an important session for an orgy?"

"With my own stepbrother?" Koki had sounded thoroughly disgusted. "The baby's kicking - go feel for yourself."

So Kame had, dropping down to the cushions, the others giving way. He'd forgotten all about work after he'd felt it, the movement of his unborn daughter under his hand. He was going to be a father. It was finally real.

"Feel that kick?" Jin had said proudly. "She's going to be a great soccer player."

There were plenty of magical moments. Tranquil evenings when the two of them took Junno for a walk through the palace gardens, or Kame joined Jin in the pool for some gentle exercise now that dancing wasn't a viable option. Kame still danced from time to time - the king had, on a whim, had a pole installed in one of the upper rooms, and his son made good use of it. Jin always enjoyed the show, though his appreciation was much less physical than before.

Even if he'd had the desire, he didn't have the energy. Kame found him half-asleep in the pantry, a bottle of maple syrup in one hand and a bag of tortilla chips in the other.

He gently uncurled Jin's fingers from the snacks. "Were you going to eat these together?"

"Shut up," Jin mumbled, eyes still closed. "They taste good on ice cream."

Kame had his doubts. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you to bed."

Jin smiled lazily, letting his head drop to Kame's shoulder. "Charmer. No wonder all the boys like you."

It was fortunate that Kame had been working out a lot more since Ueda had moved into the palace - the sorcerer had proved to be a keen boxer, and was more than happy to take Kame on as a sparring partner. He wouldn't have been able to carry Jin otherwise, not with the added weight of the bump, and Kame suspected Jin wouldn't appreciate being dumped in the vegetable trolley and wheeled back to his bedroom.

He wasn't thrilled about being deposited on the bed in any case, until Kame promised to send in some maple syrup and tortillas on ice cream later.

"With spaghetti?"

"With spaghetti." It was a meal Kame didn't feel inclined to partake in. "I'll have it sent in when you're awake enough to eat it."

"I'm awake," Jin protested, but he couldn't keep his eyes open and his body was slack against Kame's.

Kame curled up behind Jin, chest to back, not throwing an arm over him as he would once have done because Jin had begun to have breathing problems, which Ueda said was perfectly normal but scared them both anyway. It was important that Jin got plenty of rest now. With a rare free afternoon, Kame took the opportunity to join him.

"You're too late," Jin muttered as Kame pressed a kiss to the side of his neck. "I'm already expecting."

"Doesn't mean I can't practise for next time."

"Uh uh. Not doing this again. Your turn."

Kame remembered volunteering to carry the second baby, if they decided to have another one, and wished he hadn't spoken so hastily. He had the endurance, perhaps, and he didn't object to buying a whole new wardrobe in larger sizes, but he didn't relish the thought of trying to argue with ministers while throwing up a week's worth of food. "Let's wait till the first one's out of the nursery before we discuss that."

Jin hummed sleepily and turned his head back far enough to blow Kame a kiss before passing out on the pillow. Kame caught the kiss, then followed his example.

\-----

The final two months drove Jin half-crazy. Cut off from so many of his favourite activities, boredom made his daily life a struggle; he had trouble taking interest in anything. If his stepbrothers hadn't stood in his doorway and mocked him until he had to rise to fight back, he might never have left the bed. Ueda stopped by at intervals to check on the baby's progress, and congratulate Nakamaru and Koki on a job well done when he didn't think Jin was listening.

Yamapi, too, was a frequent visitor, happy to play games and watch movies with Jin, and join him in his weird food experiments. He made sure Jin saw more than the residential wing of the palace when Kame wasn't around to do it, whether Jin felt like going out or not.

And more often than not, Jin didn't feel like going anywhere, especially when his feet and ankles started to swell. Ueda watched him closely then, monitoring the swelling. He wouldn't tell Jin anything, so Jin figured he should only get worried if Ueda suddenly started giving him detailed information.

His stepmother wasn't impressed the one and only time she bothered to visit him. "You've got no excuse for lounging about like this," she said. "Women manage pregnancy without putting their lives completely on hold. You've become soft since you got married."

Jin glared up at her from the comfort of his bed. "What, I should've said no when the prince proposed?" Never mind that he almost had said no, but he and Kame were the only two who knew that, and Kame had never quite understood why.

"No, but you married him, didn't you? He's probably regretting it now, seeing how lazy you are. I didn't raise you like this, Jin."

Seeing as how his stepmother's idea of "raising" him had been to criticise every little thing he did, and then turn him into an unpaid skivvy after his father's death, Jin didn't think she had any right to talk. "I'm not your problem now," he said bitterly. "And if I had the energy to do anything, I'd be doing it. But I don't."

"Then it's no wonder the prince is spending all his time at work, is it?"

When Kame arrived with a picnic basket and a suggestion that they have an outdoor supper in the orchard, Jin's stepmother was long gone, having talked her stepson even further into dejection. Kame thought Jin was asleep at first, with the blinds drawn, light off and room dark. He left the basket by the door and crept inside to check. As he approached the bed, the muted sniffling alerted him that Jin was in fact awake, though not in any mood for visitors.

"Jin?"

"Mmh?"

"Can I turn on the light?"

No answer. Kame hit the light switch anyway, revealing a lump under the covers where Jin lay curled on his side, one arm shielding his eyes.

"Is it another headache?" Kame perched on the edge of the bed and laid a gentle hand on Jin's shoulder. "Should I find Ueda?"

"Don't you have papers to be signing somewhere?"

There was a harsh edge to Jin's words, a verbal sandpapering of Kame's conscience, but there was pain too, and when he uncovered bloodshot eyes and damp lashes, Kame knew how Jin had been spending his afternoon. He'd expected it earlier, actually. Under normal conditions, Jin's mood swings were fairly impressive, taking him from gleeful enthusiasm to guarded, stony silence, via violent jealousy and loving tenderness. Jin's upbringing had taught him how to endure, how to bide his time and wait for an opportunity to break free...but waiting to give birth didn't provide any such opportunity, and the end result would only tie Jin down further.

Kame had steeled himself for an outburst long ago, but when it hadn't come he'd gotten careless, thinking he'd escaped. He'd dealt with Jin's distress before, but they'd been up a tree at the time and Kame had been trying to propose marriage. Evidently, he was now going to get payback for everything he'd been avoiding for the last eight months.

"I'm done," he said. "My parents are spending the next month in a resort with a fax machine - I've given instructions to send everything to them instead. I'm all yours now. If you want me here, that is."

"Why would you want to be?" Jin said quietly. "To watch me struggle to get my fat, clumsy self to the bathroom without knocking into anything? I don't feel like I can do anything, Kame."

Nothing in Kame's fledgling political career so far had taught him how to lie to Jin with any degree of success, so it was no use telling him he was perfectly svelte and a marvel of grace. "If you can't do anything then I'll help you."

"You shouldn't have to."

"How would you know? It's not like you've got prior experience, is it? And my parents aren't being much help."

The king and queen had finally returned Jin's calls, but very briefly thanks to a series of bad connections, and they hadn't been able to impart much of use. Every time they started to give advice, they went off on a tangent of nostalgia over Kame's birth, inevitably leading to Jin cutting the conversation short before he got an earful of the Royal Love Life.

"No, but-"

"It's fine to challenge yourself, but there's no sense in taking risks when it's not just your health but our daughter's at stake, is there?" Kame said. "If you need to take it easy, then that's what you should do. It doesn't make you lazy, or a bad person."

Jin propped himself up on one elbow, locking eyes with Kame. "Did Ueda ever tell you?"

Kame blinked at the sudden change of subject. "About what?"

"About how..." Jin gave him a brief, bitter smile, "...how I asked him if he could abort the baby and make it seem natural."

"Why?" Kame burst out. "When?"

"When I was being so sick I thought my internal organs were going to come out of my mouth and that would be the end of me. He obviously didn't tell you. I thought he wouldn't."

Kame schooled his features into careful neutrality. "What did he tell _you_?"

"That your parents were paying his fees...but also that he was still my fairy godmother, even if he wasn't in the business any longer, and that if I wanted it to all go away, he could make it happen. You'd never have known."

"So why...why didn't you?"

"Because _I'd_ have known." Jin winced and reached down to rub his stomach. "I was sick of being sick, Kame. I wanted my life back."

Guilt hit Kame like a shot to the heart. It was _his_ fault. He reached for the hand not occupied with massaging out the pain and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you hate me for it?"

"If I did, do you think I'd let you anywhere near me? I can't hate you, I just..." Jin broke off and tried again. "You were so excited, and I wanted to be like that too, only I couldn't when I was feeling so bad. It wasn't real - I didn't see why it had to be real - until I felt her move."

"Do you still want-"

"No," Jin interrupted. "It was different when she was just a collection of cells - no gender, no name. Now she's a person, and I can't kill her."

"She still doesn't have a name."

"Jennifer," Jin said. "I want to call her Jennifer."

"Why Jennifer?"

"Because Dad said if I'd been born a girl, that's what he wanted to call me."

Fair enough. Kame would've agreed to call the baby 'Tiara', even, if it meant that Jin didn't resent him. "Jennifer it is, then."

"Eh? You're not going to argue?"

"Not this time. If that's what you want, then I'm happy with it."

Jin clucked his tongue. "Damn. I should've held out for Tiara."

Kame's laughter disappeared into Jin's shoulder as he curled himself cautiously around the bump and snuggled up as close as he dared. "You'll have your life back soon," he said.

"Nah. I'll have a whole new life. And don't think you're getting out of childcare duties just because you're a prince."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Kame assured him.

There were limits to what Jin could comfortably do in his condition; Kame was in no rush to test them. Hands and lips sufficed to elicit sounds Kame hadn't heard in several months, slow and comfortable against the pillows, Jin's oversized T-shirt pushed up out the way.

Which was how Kame noticed the faint red streaks crossing Jin's stomach. "What...?"

"Stretch marks," Jin said miserably. "Why do you think I haven't let you see me naked for ages? And they itch too." He scrabbled around in the nightstand drawer till he found a plain white jar, which he handed to Kame. "Rub some cream on me?"

\-----

Jin barely noticed Kame hovering over him the whole time, he spent so much of his final week asleep. Or so Kame thought until he spotted the headphones.

"What are you listening to now?" he asked when Jin took a break.

"Messages wishing me good luck. Have a listen for yourself."

Kame accepted the headphones. To his surprise, Viscount Kusano's voice played, telling Jin to take it easy and not make Kame worry about him. "Kusano?"

"Yeah." Jin sounded as amazed as Kame felt. "He sent it just before he went off to find that mythical land of...what was it? New York, something like that? I always thought he hated me for taking you off the market."

"Only when he was drunk. Who are all these from?"

"Friends, servants, subjects. We've had enough babysitting offers to keep us going till Jennifer's eighteen."

Kame listened to a few more. Some of the messages seemed to have been recorded while the parties responsible were less than sober, to judge by the content and delivery, and no one appeared to be sure exactly how Jin was planning on giving birth, based on some of the advice - and narcotics - offered.

When the big day came was due less to nature than to Ueda, who wanted to fit it in between his training. Kame's parents didn't make it back in time, owing to a succession of flat tyres, so Kame, Jin and Ueda were alone in a specially-prepared room. Next door, Yamapi, Koki and Nakamaru waited impatiently, taking it in turns to play with Junno.

"Nervous?" Kame asked.

"Terrified." Jin was stripped to his underwear, surrounded by pillows, and clutching Kame's hand so hard he was about to break bones. "Each time Ueda tells me how he's going to do this, it sounds more like surgery than magic."

"It's a bit of both," Ueda said cheerfully. "You drink this," he handed Jin a glass of something ominously purple, "and you'll be asleep in seconds. Then I make this," he patted Jin's bump, "mist, and while the baby's in stasis I sever the connections she has with your body. Everything gets tied off nice and neat, I restore your flesh, and without the baby preventing your body from changing back, you'll be physically recovered in a couple of days. I hope."

Kame and Jin turned identical suspicious gazes on him and said, "You hope?"

"I've never done this before. But it should all work, in theory."

Jin groaned. "For the amount he's being paid, you'd think I'd at least get some reassuring banter."

"That costs extra." Ueda took a deep breath and readied himself by the raised bed. "It'll be fine. You won't feel a thing."

"I'd better not." Jin swallowed the contents of the glass before he could change his mind.

Kame caught the glass as it fell from Jin's numb fingers, setting it aside. The effects were instantaneous, never mind the seconds Ueda had promised. "What kind of sleep is that?"

"You know the sleep you always get in fairy tales, where the princess can sleep through earthquakes, buildings falling on her, nuclear explosions and high-volume reggae music because none of it involves her being kissed by her destined prince? It's that kind. He won't wake until I make it happen.

"Now step back, please."

Kame found that only slightly comforting. He wished, as he watched Ueda at work, that he was anywhere else, preferably somewhere he didn't have to look at Jin's prone form dissolving half into mist. The baby, a scrunched, pink and red bundle, appeared to hover in mid-air where the protective womb faded out of sight. Childbirth, he'd been told, was a moving experience for all concerned. The only movement Kame felt was a churning in his stomach.

From start to finish, the whole process took less than two hours, and when it was over, Ueda smoothed Jin's skin back into place, tweaking a little to remove some of the excess weight. Jin slept on, flat stomach more-or-less restored, not even stirring when Kame wrapped him in a robe. The palace doctor was on hand now to examine the baby and confer with Ueda.

"She's doing fine," Ueda said when Kame pestered him. "Do you want to hold her?"

"Can you wake Jin first?"

Ueda did, pouring a vial of green liquid into Jin's mouth and holding his nose to make him swallow. The effects were as immediate as the first potion - Jin woke with a start, coughing up the remains and pulling a face at the taste.

"Why do all your potions taste like vegetable juice?" he complained.

"If they tasted nice, people might try to steal them," Ueda said. "How do you feel?"

"Weird. Empty." Jin looked down at his stomach. "Where is she?"

The doctor passed Kame a pink bundle, which he held down for Jin to take. Peeking out from the blanket was a tiny little face, all pink and freshly cleaned, topped by strands of dark hair. Their little girl. Jennifer.

"She's beautiful," Jin whispered. "She's going to break the hearts of everyone in the kingdom."

"She is _your_ daughter," Ueda pointed out. "And she's healthy, you'll be glad to hear."

"Good." Kame crashed on the armchair next to the bed. "Then can you leave us alone for a bit?"

Ueda beamed at the baby. "Fine, but you can explain to the army of godfathers next door why they're not allowed in yet."

He and the doctor cleared out, leaving Kame and Jin alone with their baby girl.

"I think she's got your eyes," Jin said fondly.

Kame snorted. "How can you tell? They're closed."

"But that's how you look when you're sleeping." Jin shifted over so Kame could sit next to him. "Do you think we're up to this?"

"Honestly? I don't know. But we've got all the help we could ever want."

"We'll still screw it up anyway."

"Probably." Kame couldn't help laughing. "No one ever said raising a child was easy, Jin. I think I still do things that make my parents wish they'd bought a cat instead."

"A cat would've been cheaper," Jin said, mindful of Kame's shopping habits and expensive taste in clothes.

"A cat wouldn't have given them a grandchild. They'd better be happy with little Jennifer when they get back."

The past nine months had been full of ups and downs. Sickness and fatigue, a range of anxieties, disturbed nights and uncomfortable days...but moments of wonder, also. Jin didn't feel any more balanced than he had since the start of his pregnancy, body and emotions still all over the place, but those, he hoped, would gradually even out as his hormones returned to normal and he and Kame adapted to the new addition to their family.

One adorable little girl with two dads ready to give her all the love she needed. There were bound to be problems. Fights, temper tantrums, sleepless nights...unavoidable unless Jin took off, and he certainly couldn't do that now. Not when he had a daughter to take care of - a blend of his and Kame's genes, which in itself was a recipe for trouble.

But Jin was prepared for trouble. "It doesn't matter if they're happy with her or not," he said. "I am."


End file.
